Why does every caller hit the 0 button on an IVR?

How many times have you called into a support hotline, followed their complicated and convoluted IVR menu, entered your information (name, account number, etc.), and when you finally reached a human on the other side of the line she/he asked you your name, account number and everything else you had already entered?

This phenomenon, unfortunately, is becoming a norm rather than the exception! 

As a result, callers in need of help anticipate this “IVR hell” and go for the “0” or the “*” buttons immediately hoping to bypass long and confusing menus and to reach a human who can help them ASAP!

The Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology is supposed to help you and your customers, and is the first experience your customer or prospect is going to have with your organization.  So, use it wisely.  Here are six recommendations that make your IVR implementation efficient:

1.  Avoid long menus and options. 
If your IVR is providing the caller more than a handful of options, know that you have not designed it optimally.

If your company has a lot of departments and options, then I suggest using different hotlines (for example, one for sale, and a separate one for support).

By the same token, avoid nesting your IVR menu too much.  Although nesting can help callers navigate the IVR better and more efficiently, be careful not to make your IVR too complicated.

2.  Design your IVR around your customers’ needs not your own convenience!

Put on a customer or a prospect’s hat on when designing your IVR.  They don’t know your organization and how to navigate it, they need assistance, and they don’t have time to waste.

3. If you capture information through your IVR such as account number, then use it! 

If the information you are capturing is not going to be passed through your systems AND agents to streamline the call, then don’t ask for it.  It doesn’t make you look fancy.  It makes your operation look inefficient!  Use CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) technology to “act” on the captured information and use screen-pops to better prepare and inform your agent.

4.  Prepare your caller for a pleasant experience

Avoid negative greeting messages such as:

“We are experiencing high call volume, leave a message or call us later…”
“Our business hours are…”

Instead, use this opportunity to show that your callers are important to you and that you are taking every measure to respond to them as efficiently as possible.  If you are asking them to leave a message inform them that they will be contacted within a certain time period and stick to that promise.

5.  Design your business rules carefully!
How many times an automated system has informed you (the caller) that you are number 3 in the queue only to adjust your position in the queue minutes later down to number 5?

Many organizations now utilize technology that informs the caller of his/her position in the queue and the anticipated hold time.  Many organizations also utilize priority queuing in which the service level or other factors determine the position of a caller.  When both of these features are utilized at the same time, there is a possibility that a caller who is already in the queue be bumped by a new caller who has higher priority. 

6.  Enforce your contact policy at all levels

How many times have you heard complaints from your sales team about the large volume of incoming calls they receive when callers can’t get to customer support or billing fast enough?

How many times have your support representatives complained about the main operator transferring blind calls to them directly, thus bypassing the whole customer entitlement and queuing process?

Even if you have designed your IVR system efficiently you still run the risk of callers who want to bypass your system and get to a human as soon as possible.  Your processes are as good as how well you enforce them.  Guide your employees to inform such callers of the correct option on the IVR and make sure they transfer the caller back to the IVR menu “every time”.